The Richard Burton Diaries (243 page)

105
The SS
Michelangelo
, a liner built for the North Atlantic crossing in 1962.

106
Burton had previously travelled on the Cunard Lines’
Queen Mary
.

107
Quogue, Long Island. Home of Aaron Frosch.

108
Irv ‘Kup’ Kupcinet (1912–2003), newspaper columnist and television talk show host, married to Esther ‘Essee’ Solomon (d. 2001). The Pump Room, restaurant, in the Ambassador East Hotel, Chicago.

109
Hermes Pan (1910–90), American choreographer and dancer, who worked closely with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and who had been the choreographer for
Cleopatra
.

110
Constantine Fitzgibbon,
The Life of Dylan Thomas
(1965). Burton, who had been a friend of Thomas, would write a review of this volume for the
New York Herald Tribune
.

111
Pomona, Los Angeles.

112
A pet.

113
Scandia restaurant, Sunset Boulevard.

114
Mike Nichols (1931—), at this point renowned as a theatre director. He was to make his directorial debut on film with
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(1966). Rosemary Forsyth (sometimes Forsythe, Forsyth-Yuro) (1944–), actor.

115
Their Yorkshire Terrier.

116
John Lee, Dick Hanley's secretary.

117
A district to the immediate west of Beverly Hills.

118
'Their father’: Michael Wilding Sr, actor and agent. ‘Maggie’: Dame Margaret Leighton (1922–76), by this time married to Michael Wilding Sr, and who would appear with Taylor in
X, Y and Zee
.

119
Dr Rexford Kennamer, a doctor at the Hollywood Presbyterian hospital, often treated Taylor and Burton when they were in California. He had met Taylor at the time of Montgomery Clift's car accident in 1956, and had become part of Taylor's wider entourage, occasionally accompanying her on trips abroad, including to Rome during the filming of
Cleopatra
. He was physician to many famous Hollywood stars.

120
Valerie Douglas, at this time Burton's publicist in Beverly Hills.

1966

1
In this diary Burton enters where he is writing from on most days. Here only the initial change of location will be entered.

2
Franco Zeffirelli, director of
The Taming of the Shrew
. Irene Sharaff (1910–93), Elizabeth Taylor's costume designer for the film, who had also been costume designer for
Cleopatra
and
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Richard F. McWhorter, executive producer for the film, had been assistant to the producer on both
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
and
Becket
.

3
The Taming of the Shrew
.

4
Vittorio De Sica (1901–74), director. De Sica would direct Burton in
The Voyage
.

5
Edward Albee (1928—), playwright, author of
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

6
Hotel Ranieri, Via Venti Settembre. Albee's partner at this time was William Pennington.

7
Albee's
A Delicate Balance
would win the Pulitzer Prize in 1966.

8
Tiny Alice
; play by Albee, premiered 1964.

9
Paparazzi – press photographers.

10
Ugo Betti (1892–1953),
The Queen and the Rebels
(1951).

11
Umberto D.
; film by Vittorio De Sica, 1952.

12
A glass shot is the shooting of a scene through glass which may have been painted to represent, for example, scenery.

13
Robert Haggiag (1913–2009), film producer, who would make
Candy
with Burton in 1968.

14
Via Vittorio Veneto.

15
The Trial of Stephen Ward
(1964).

16
Memoirs
by Harry S. Truman:
Year of Decisions
(vol. 1, 1955);
Years of Trial and Hope
(vol. 2, 1956).

17
Harold Wilson (1916–95) called a general election in order to secure a larger Labour majority.

18
'Tory press’ meaning those supporting the Conservative Party. The
Daily Mirror
supported the Labour Party.

19
Labour won 363 seats at the election, increasing its majority in the House of Commons from 4 to 96 seats.

20
Lhasa Apso: a breed of dog.

21
Rudolph Nureyev (1938–93), ballet dancer.

22
Luigi Barzini,
The Italians: A Full Length Portrait
(1964).

23
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn (1929–86), ballet dancer.

24
Les Sylphides
, the ballet.

25
The Little Bar is just off the Via Sistina on Via Gregoriana.

26
Ron Berkeley was Richard's make-up man on many films, including
Taming of the Shrew
. Vicky Tiel (1943—) was at this time a clothes and costume designer who had worked on
What's New Pussycat?
, and who would design clothes and costumes for other films involving Burton, including
Candy
and
Bluebeard
. Berkeley and Tiel would marry in 1971, and divorce in 1986. At this point Tiel was on the verge of establishing herself as a significant fashion designer, with a boutique in Paris.

27
Switzerland.

28
Lido di Ostia, 30 km west of Rome.

29
E'en So: Burton and Taylor's Pekinese.

30
The Silencers
(1966), directed by Phil Karlson (1908–85), starring Dean Martin (1917–95).

31
Wales beat France 9–8 at Cardiff.

32
'Goodness Gracious Me!’ was the title of a single released by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren (1934—) in 1960; it reached no 4 in the charts. Loren would later co-star with Burton in
The Voyage
and
Brief Encounter
.

33
Anglo, ridden by Tim Norman and trained by Fred Winter.

34
Cardiff (1914–2009), cinematographer and director, had worked with Robert Haggiag on
The Barefoot Contessa
(1954).

35
Sons and Lovers
, (1960) remains his best known film as director. It won an Oscar for cinematography, and was nominated in six other categories, included Best Director.

36
The ‘solarization’ process using a so-called ‘magic box’, was to be utilized in Cardiff's 1968 film,
Girl on a Motorcycle
.

37
There is today a Ristorante Le Streghe, on the Via Tuscalona, about 2km from the Cinecitta studios in Rome.

38
A prominent and historic Italian family.

39
Larry: Laurence Olivier. John: Sir John Gielgud (1904–2000), actor and director, friend of Richard Burton, whom he had directed in
The Lady's Not for Burning
(1949, 1950),
The Boy with a Cart
(1950),
Hamlet
(1964) and with whom he had acted and would again act (
Becket, Wagner
). ‘always the pouffs’ is presumably a derogatory reference to male homosexuals.

40
A version of the line spoken by Lady Macbeth of Duncan, in
Macbeth
Act V, scene i: ‘Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?’

41
'Snapshot’: one of Richard's nicknames for Elizabeth.

42
FZ: Franco Zeffirelli.

43
'Shumdit’ was another nickname Richard had for Elizabeth.

44
Mike Todd Jr (1929–2002), the son of Mike Todd by his marriage to Bertha Freeman (1927–46).
Around the World of Mike Todd
would screen in September 1968.

45
The covering of the Spanish Steps or Piazza di Spagna with flowers is an annual ritual in spring.

46
Possibly the Vineria Il Chianti, Via del Lavatore.

47
Porto Santa Stefano is on the Promontorio dell'Argentario, some 125km from Rome. Burton and Taylor had spent a fraught weekend there in April 1962 during their affair. Burton returns to discuss that weekend's events in his diary for 13 August 1971.

48
Charles Herbert Beal (1908–91), jazz pianist.

49
Agnes Flanagan was Elizabeth's hairdresser on
Taming of the Shrew
and would repeat this role for
Doctor Faustus
. Frank Flanagan was her husband. Frank La Rue was Elizabeth's make-up man for
Taming of the Shrew
and for a number of other films.

50
Ristorante L'Escargot, Via Appia Antica, Rome.

51
Cyril Cusack (1910–93) was playing the part of Grumio. He had played alongside Richard in
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
and would do so again in
Tristan and Isolde
. Victor Spinetti (1933–2012), a Welsh actor, was playing the part of Hertensio.

52
'Cantank’ is another nickname for Elizabeth Taylor.

53
Mia Farrow (1945—), who was to act alongside Elizabeth Taylor in
Secret Ceremony
.

54
Kenneth Tynan (1927–80), theatre critic, journalist, literary manager at the National Theatre (1963–73). Truman Capote (1924–84), author. Tynan had reviewed and known Burton since the beginnings of his stage career. Capote was a friend of Taylor.

55
Tynan's hostile
Observer
review (13 March 1966) of Capote's
In Cold Blood
(1965) provoked Capote into a reply (27 March 1966).

56
Barry Norman (1933—), film critic and, at this time, show business editor of the
Daily Mail
, in which the interview appeared.

57
Curettage: a surgical procedure using a curette, a small instrument like a scoop. A rather old-fashioned method of inducing an abortion, but also (and, it seems likely, in this case) a therapeutic procedure that may improve chances of future conception.

58
Welsh for ‘Thanks be to Him / For ever remembering the dust of the earth’, a line from the hymn ‘Diolch iddo’.

59
The first, unedited film sequence.

60
Michael Hordern was playing the part of Baptista. Alan Webb (1906–82) was playing the part of Gremio.

61
To finagle – to fiddle etc.

62
Joshua Logan (1908–88), director. He was to direct a film version of
Camelot
starring Richard Harris (1932–2002) for Warner Bros which appeared in 1967.

63
Garmisch, a ski resort in Bavaria.

64
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59), who is credited with the response (at the age of four), after having hot coffee spilt on his legs: ‘Thank you, madam, the agony is abated’.

65
Milton ‘Mickey’ Rudin (1920–99), lawyer with Gang, Tyre, Rudin and Brown of Sunset Building, Hollywood. His client list included Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra. Burton had been using the firm since the early 1960s if not before.

66
Nevill Coghill (1899–1980), academic. Coghill, then fellow and tutor in English Literature at Exeter College, Oxford, had directed Burton in the 1944 production of
Measure for Measure
and had remained a friend ever since. Coghill, from 1957 to 1966 Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford, would co-direct
Doctor Faustus
with Richard, having written the screen adaptation.

67
Bach gan
–
bachgen
– Welsh for ‘boy’.

68
The London Adventure
(1924) was the third and final part of the autobiography of the Welsh writer Arthur Machen (1863–1947).

69
At the Basilica San Pietro (St Peter's).

70
'Why so pale and wan, fond lover?’ is the opening line of ‘Why so Pale and Wan’ by Sir John Suckling (1609–42).

71
Michael York (real name Michael Hugh Johnson) (1942—) was playing the part of Lucentio. He had read English at Oxford University and had worked with Franco Zeffirelli in the National Theatre prior to making his screen debut in
The Taming of the Shrew
.

72
Luna Park – Rome's amusement park and funfair.

73
Ambrose Coghill would play the part in the film of
Doctor Faustus
(1968) of Avarice/First Professor.

74
George Henry Lewes (1817–78),
On Actors and the Art of Acting
(1875).

75
Columbia Pictures were financing
The Taming of the Shrew
.

76
Zero meaning Zeffirelli.

77
A reference to John Bartlett,
Familiar Quotations
, which first appeared in 1855. ‘Fag’ here being short for ‘faggot’, a derogatory term for a homosexual.

78
It is possible that Burton is making a reference here to Sharaff's homosexuality.

79
Mike Frankovich (1909–92), film producer.

80
Richard is here referring to Robert Traill Spence Lowell (1917–77), the American poet. Lowell's daughter Harriet was born on 4 January 1957, making her the same age as Liza Todd.

81
Enzo: presumably the housekeeper or caretaker.

82
Wolf Mankovitz (1924–98), writer, was to write the screenplay for
Faustus
and also work on
The Battle of Sutjeska
.

83
Burton means Tommy Thompson (1933–82), journalist with
Life
.

84
W. H. Auden (1907–73), poet.
About the House
(1965).

85
Pamela Brown (1917–75) had played alongside both Burton and Taylor in
Cleopatra
, Burton in
Becket
(1964) and would play alongside Taylor in
Secret Ceremony
(1968). She had also acted with Burton in the stage production of
The Lady's Not for Burning
(1949). Sally Wilson (d. 1967) was the wife of Bob Wilson (b. 1905), Richard Burton's dresser and assistant.

86
Dave Crowley (1910–74), former British lightweight boxing champion, occasional film actor, and proprietor of ‘Le Pub’.

87
Maureen Cusack (died 1977) was Cyril's wife.

88
Alfred Lynch (1931–2003), playing the part of Tranio, and Roy Holder (1946—), playing the part of Biondello.